Joanna muses

Book review: Elyse Fitzpatrick- Found in him

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 19 Dec 2013 12:36:00 +0000

Found In Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ
Elyse Fitzpatrick
Buy the audiobook / buy the print edition

Union with Christ is a theological idea that has tended to not get a great deal of attention in the past. That’s unfortunate because its an idea that appears quite often in the New Testament and one that has big implications for how we relate to God. Thankfully that neglect is starting to be rectified. In addition to a number of academic level works, Rory Shiner published a brilliant book about it earlier this year, Desiring God has announced a conference on the topic and Elyse Fitzpatrick has recently released an good book on the topic called “Found In Him: The Joy of the Incarnation and Our Union with Christ”

Found In Him takes the really helpful approach of looking at union with Christ together with an in-depth look at the incarnation and humanity of Christ. This section on its own is helpful because it unpacks a lot of why it matters that Jesus lived as fully human for so long rather than just dashing down out of heaven briefly to save us. In the context of this book it was especially helpful because it also served to set a good foundation for the discussions in the second half of the book on union with Christ. The second section provided a reasonably clear explanation of the union with Christ, although I felt bordered on overusing the metaphor of marriage. The book made a strong close with an explanation of how our effort and being good relates to the ideas in the book.

The book was well structured and clear enough to follow. However, I found the writing style didn’t quite work for me. The writing was often a bit more over descriptive and slow to get to the point than I would have preferred. Don’t let that put you off reading it though- you may find the style works well for you.

Overall verdict: Recommended. It would do all Christians a lot of good to ponder the truths laid out in this book.

Review copy courtesy of christianaudio

2013 free Christmas music roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 23:33:00 +0000

Every Christmas many artists put out free Christmas songs or albums. There's so many this year its hard to work out where to start so I've compiled some highlights for you. I'll keep adding to this list up until Christmas so let me know in the comments or via twitter (@joannamuses) if you have any suggestions.

Albums
Various Artists: Eastside Manor Christmas Sessions 2013
Various Artists- Hey, It's Christmas! - Vol. 3
Sleeping At Last- Christmas Collection 2013
Various Artists- Paste Magazine Holiday Sampler 2013
Austin Stone Worship- A Day of Glory
Sarah Macintosh: Christmas: With one breath he came
Trevor Davis- B-Day in Bethlehem

EPs & individual tracks
Kye Kye- Noel
Anna Gilbert- Christmas Memory
Larisa Grisham- What child is this
Evan Wickham- Christmas music volume 1
Brooke Annibale- O Come O Come Emmanuel
Folk Angel- Christmas songs sampler
Matt Wertz- Christmas time is here
Stephen Miller- Rescue
Tony Anderson- O Come O Come Emmanuel
Lara Landon- The Virgin Mary
Postmodern Jukebox- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Book review: Kevin DeYoung- Crazy Busy

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:37:00 +0000

Crazy Busy
Kevin DeYoung
Buy at print version Amazon / Buy audiobook at christianaudio

It would be easy at first glance to assume that Crazy Busy is just another book bemoaning the busyness of modern life and handing out helpful tips on how to work less hours, tame your schedule and get through your emails quicker. In many bookstores there is big selection of such books and the blogosphere has even more to say about the topic.

Certainly there is some good advice in the book, but this book stands out for going deeper into the underlying spiritual and emotional roots of the problem and how we can work on addressing them. These include things such as feeling kids must be involved in everything possible if they aren’t to fall behind in life, pride about how much we can achieve and neglecting to get enough rest. The book also covered the role of digital distractions in busyness and misplaced priorities was particularly convicting.

He finishes his exploration of the issue with a helpful summons back to dedicating time to spend with God, both because it is what we should be doing anyway and because it helps other things in life fall into place a bit better. Towards the end of the book he also makes some useful clarification about the tiredness and schedule demands that can come from following God’s calling and the unhealthy busyness most of the book has dealt with.

Although the analysis is at times uncomfortably convicting (in a good way) , it doesn’t descend into feeling preachy as DeYoung shares plenty of his own failings and a bit of humor. Neither does the book drag on even though undoubtedly volumes could be written on the topic. The chapters are fairly short and the whole thing is only 3 hours in audio (128 pages in print).

Regardless of whether you think you are crazy busy or just a little bit busy, I recommend you read this book. You’ll likely come out understanding your own behavior more clearly and better equipped to keep your priorities in order.

Review copy courtesy of christianaudio

Poetry: A poem for a place

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 01:58:00 +0000

A poem for a place

Have you changed
Or was it I?
I've walked your streets
Sat under your night sky
Your rooms feel haunted
With the ghosts of what
I've been Is it better, is it worse?
Can't make sense of what I've seen

So here I am again
I've dwelt with you before
You look much the same
Don't know about me anymore
Soon I must depart again
I will surely be back one day
Then I'll wander your roads again
Maybe then I'll find my way

(c) Joanna Holman

Featured song: Switchfoot- Who we are

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Thu, 10 Oct 2013 21:50:00 +0000

Book review: Carolyn Weber- Holy is the day

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 13:28:00 +0000

Holy Is the Day: Living in the Gift of the Present
Carolyn Weber
Buy the book at Amazon

There is a lot that’s being said these days about doing dramatic radical things for Jesus. That has merit, but sometimes it is good to read of what it means to live faithfully in the midst of normal life. Carolyn Weber’s new book Holy is the day explores finding God in the normal things of life with incredible beauty, wisdom and intelligence.

Carolyn’s first book, Surprised by Oxford, tells the story of discovering Christianity and meeting her husband while an international student studying literature at the historic Oxford University. Holy is the Day picks up later in the story as she navigates pregnancy, facing the challenges of being a Christian employed in academia and moving home to Canada. As in her first book, the stories are vividly and beautifully told. As cliché as it sounds, reading her story made me feel like I was there amidst it all. The book also shines for the depth of the theological reflection, something I think she has grown even more in since her first book. She articulates a lot of big and thoughtful ideas while still maintaining beautiful prose. I was particularly struck by her reflections on how the difficult challenges of working through the aftermath of trauma. This is definitely something that could use more and better discussion among Christians.

I strongly commend this book to you. I hope it is widely read because it has much truth and beauty to communicate.

Quotable: Worship & faith

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 14 Sep 2013 11:39:00 +0000

"The object of our faith is a Person, not a proposition. We do not place our lives in an idea or a doctrine or a system or a set of values. We place ourselves in the personal God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Proclaiming the creed, then, is an act of worship, not a recitation of doctrine. Faith, after all, is not simple agreement or the acknowledgment of certain propositions or hypotheses. Faith is the placing of your whole life within God, the only One who is faithful enough to hold your life, redeem it, and save it. There is no worship without faith, and there is no faith without worship. It is faith that leads us to worship and worship that enlarges our faith."

From Discover the Mystery of Faith by Glenn Packiam

Book review: Rory Shiner- One Forever

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 10:59:00 +0000

One Forever: The transforming power of being in Christ

Rory Shiner

Buy at Amazon

There isn’t that many talks I would say changed my life but Rory Shiner’s talks on union with Christ at an Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students conference a few years ago did. It wasn’t a big, blinding moment of epiphany, but the introduction of a set of ideas that began to seep into how I thought about living as a Christian, changing me for the better. So I was rather excited when I heard that Rory was elaborating on these ideas in a book.

The idea of union with Christ or being “in Christ” does at first glance sound a bit obscure. Other than Rory’s talks, I don’t think I’ve heard it preached about much. But, as Rory points out in the book, it’s an idea the New Testament commonly uses to describe what it means to be a Christian. The big idea is that by being united to Christ in his death and resurrection, the victory over sin and death and the new life that he achieved is ours too. If that sounds a bit hard to get your head around, don’t worry because in the book Rory explains it strikingly well.

I think there is a couple of audiences this book can be particularly helpful. One is Christian who have fallen into feeling like Christianity is about what they do. There is quite a few books coming out these days that address such tendencies, but I think this angle is quite a helpful one. The book also has some evangelistic potential. While some of the concepts might require a bit more knowledge that some seekers would have, there are some really fantastic illustrations and metaphors that could be very useful when explaining the gospel.

It is only a short book (less than 90 pages), but there is so much good stuff in it. No matter how much or little theology you think you know, my recommendation is that you read it, followed by reading it again a few more times.

Review copy courtesy of Matthias Media

Book Trailer

Featured song: my remix of Fly to Paradise by the Virtual Choir

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:13:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I wrote some reflections on participating in the Virtual Choir. More recently, I've been dabbling with remixing the new Virtual Choir track. This is what I came up with. You can download it from the widget if you want. If you can't see the widget, click here to listen at soundcloud. If you want to have a go at remixing it, you can get the parts at the Virtual Choir website.

Notes to my college self

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 10:21:00 +0000

Today I visited the university campus I attended for a performance by a sibling's band at an open day for prospective students. As I navigated my way through crowds of wide-eyed prospective students, I couldn’t help picture being in these spaces in the past. I pictured high-school me, sitting in a courtyard while waiting for school band competitions at the campus to start. I would watch the students, so mature and sophisticated looking as they juggled their books and coffee. I could picture me at an open day much like the one I was attending. In other parts of the campus, I could picture first year me, learning my way around the complex and illogically arranged collection of campus facilities and experiencing various aspects of campus life for the first time.

I pondered what I would tell these past versions of myself if time and space was to bend in a way that made that possible. Certainly I would tell me practical tips about effective library use, how to negotiate university bureaucracy and the dangers of over-caffeination. But more importantly, I’d tell me some of what I wish I’d known or that I discovered by accident about what it means to not waste those years. Unfortunately I can’t send these notes back in time, but I can put them out there for those who have university/college study ahead of them. So here goes...

Dear student self,

I know it seems like you have a lot of years of study ahead of you. As cliche as it sounds, the time really does fly and before you know it you’ll be graduating. Yes, student life is busy, but it is worth investing time and effort into a few things that will make you more likely to feel like you made the most of these years when you graduate.

Learn more than you have to. You’ll see lots of your fellow students doing their best to spend as little time studying as possible, learning exactly what they need for their exams (and absolutely nothing more). It’s tempting, but don’t be like them. You’re spending all this time and money to learn, so you may as well learn as much as you can. Read some of the non-required readings or go find some library books on a topics your classes don’t fully cover. If you’re busy, find some educational podcasts or audiobooks to listen to on your way to campus or while exercising. In addition to the intrinsic benefits of learning interesting things, the extra effort will probably help your marks and make you sound more intelligent in class discussions too.

Expand your interests. You’ll have access to a huge range of sporting, arts and cultural activities happening a few minutes walk from where your classes are held. Make the most of this, since once you graduate being involved in such things is often more expensive, difficult to fit around a work schedule and might require travel time. So go to talks on interesting topics unrelated to your degree or go to recitals featuring a style of music your favourite radio station would never play. Join the quidditch team or the choir and maybe go watch the debating club in action sometimes. It’s a great time to be finding new passions and creating memories that will enrich your life now and in the future.

Invest in relationships. Your university campus is a big place with lots of people. You won’t have many people who are in more than one of the same classes as you. This means that you will have to put effort and planning into making and maintaining friendships.That looks a bit different for everyone depending on their interests and personality, but do whatever it takes to have regular, meaningful interaction with friends.

Invest in your career.Unfortunately your degree will count for a lot less than you hope it will in the job market, even though you are going to a very good university and will get good marks. A lot of what they teach you at university won’t be that job focused and most of the people you’ll be competing with for your future job will also have a degree. One day at a future job you’ll get the task of reading applicants' resumes and get sick of hearing how their group projects taught them teamwork and communication skills! Put time into volunteering, part time work and other experiences that will give you something to show to prospective employers. As boring as they are, take the job hunting and career skills workshops your university offers. Don’t leave it to your last semester, the earlier you can be getting ready for post-study life the better.

So, student self, time to get busy making the most of all those opportunities.

Regards,
Your future self.

Finding real grace in a virtual choir

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Tue, 16 Jul 2013 13:38:00 +0000

A few nights ago, I was in the kitchen with my laptop open on the counter, blasting the new Virtual Choir video on youtube.

While I was kind of dancing, kind of cleaning as the video played a housemate walked in to dump dishes in the sink. They stopped at my laptop and tried to make sense of what they were seeing and hearing....an anime angel.....a classical choir......in colorful buildings....and an electro backing track. I tried to explain what it was they were seeing and I think they eventually kind of understood the idea of how a virtual choir works- that singers from all around the world submit the videos of themselves singing and the videos get joined together into a choir.

But what I now wish I’d explained was that to me, what they were watching was grace wrapped up in sound and video.

I love composer Eric Whitacre’s music and thought his concept of the virtual choir was brilliant. I had watched previous versions online in awe. And so when a new choir project opened up I downloaded the sheet music, loaded the demo tracks onto my iPod and started getting my head around the beautiful harmonies. But as the submission deadline drew closer, I despaired about my chances of joining the choir. I was already musically out of shape from too long away from singing. I was exhausted from working multiple jobs to make ends meet and the illness I had hoped would get better in time to record a video had not gotten better, both of which were messing with my voice. I sang the best I could but every recording was disappointing. But strangers from around the world on the choir forum spurred me on to join in and in a moment of crazy, I pushed upload.

I would not have faulted the Virtual Choir team for throwing my video out. The performance wasn’t very good and neither was the technical quality of the video. Anyone would have been justified to reject the video but they would all the more given how talented and respected some of the people involved in creating the choir are. Artists who win Grammy awards normally work with people who have a level of talent I could never attain. There was also more than enough great singers among the choir to create an impressive video.

Eventually release day rolled around. After much battling a bad internet connection I got the video playing and got lost in the video and the music. Several minutes in, I noticed a familiar face among all the singers I did not really expect to see. There I was, part of the choir. I had not been rejected but graciously made part of the choir. That was a feeling of belonging that I could not fully describe. We sounded beautiful. The flaws that were in my performance (and no doubt in other people’s) blended into an extraordinary sound.

I was originally going to make this post about what happens when people from different backgrounds are willing to cooperate or the possibilities of using technology for good or the power of collaborative creativity. All these things were inspiring about the Virtual Choir. But I realised that it is the grace I was shown that I want to dwell on and remember the most. Too often life is survival (or at least advancement) of the fittest, of the most talented, of the best. Never quite measuring up in all sorts of ways feels like the story of my life over the past few years. It’s something you experience hundreds of times over when job hunting! People’s flaws too often get mocked, whether that be on the playground or on the internet. People feeling like they don’t belong anywhere they try fit to fit in is endemic. Grace is rare.

It is worth celebrating and remembering when people who could justifiably do otherwise show grace and extend belonging to those who don’t deserve it and in doing so create something wonderful. It is worth watching for, because sometimes it is to be found in unexpected places, even in anime animated, elecro-classical youtube choirs.

Book review: Paul Angone- 101 Secrets for your twenties

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 10:11:00 +0000

101 Secrets For Your Twenties
Paul Angone
Buy it at amazon

Most people seem to have some idea of how their 20’s will work out. Usually it involves some blend of relational milestones, career achievement and impact making.

But what happens when things don’t work out as planned?

That’s where Paul Angone steps in with his book 101 Secrets for Your Twenties. As you can probably guess from the title, the book is made up of 101 ideas about living well in your twenties even when your dreams aren’t coming true. Some of the secrets are funny, some are serious and it covers a wide variety of the craziness that’s often encountered at this life stage.

There are a few things I really liked about this book.

One was that it is the right kind of positive. Some books are an annoying, grating positive that sound like a cross between a bad graduation speech and an inspirational bumper sticker. This isn’t one of those books. It is hopeful and encouraging while avoiding the platitudes and acknowledging the realities of life.

Another thing I really appreciated was in the book was its encouragement to not go it alone but to seek community and help. That is not necessarily something that gets enough focus in our individualistic society. I was particularly happy to see the emphasis on putting deliberate effort into developing meaningful friendships (secret 70) and pushing through the awkwardness to get professional mental health help if needed (secret 7).

I think the thing I liked the most about this book though was that it made me feel less alone. It is easy to look at other people who seem to have it all together (and have the Facebook photo albums to prove it) and wonder if you are doing something wrong. It is incredibly reassuring that other people find post university life disorientating, hard or disappointing sometimes but still find a way to thrive even though things didn’t play out as they planned.

Featured song: Hillsong Live- Man of Sorrows

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 06 Jul 2013 00:12:00 +0000

New project: Wyn Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 03:57:00 +0000

For the last few months I've been working alongside a team of writers from Alaska to Australia lead by Becky Castle Miller and Amy Jane Helmericks to put together Wyn Magazine (wynmag.com), an online magazine and blog focusing on providing resources and hope for mental and emotional healing. It is a bit intimidating to write about such things but I think it is important and worthwhile because so many people struggle in silence due to stigma and lack of knowledge surrounding mental and emotional health issues. I'd really appreciate it if you would visit the site and pass it on to anyone you think it might help.

Summaries, short-cuts and spiritual growth

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 12:05:00 +0000

Seth Godin posted a great piece recently on the dangers of thinking that the convenient, summarized version of information is enough. Here is an extract:

"You're probably smart enough to 'get it' merely by reading the 140 character summary of just about anything. But of course, that doesn't mean you understand it, or that it changed you. All it means is that you were quickly able to sort it into an appropriate category, to make a decision about where it belongs in your mental filing cabinet. The best experiences and the biggest ideas don't fit into a category. They change it. They don't get filed away, they transform us." (emphasis mine)

I think this is worth pondering when it comes to spiritual growth, particularly learning the Bible. There is no shortage of biblical ideas being tweeted, short bible overview guides or devotionals that can be done in a few minutes. Some devotionals I've seen lately advertise that they can be read in as little as a minute! These are not inherently bad things. Twitter is a very useful tool, overview guides can be very helpful when used alongside Bible reading and shorter devotionals might be a really useful for new Christians taking baby steps into good spiritual growth habits or people who genuinely have no spare time due to unusually demanding responsibilities.

But, I think these summaries can be dangerous if we let them become a short-cut. It is easy to feel like we're getting somewhere because we've managed to learn more facts we can slot into our mental bank of knowledge. Not only that, but we can do it so quickly when everything is neatly summarised for our quick processing!

One problem is, these summarised forms can become a substitute for actually reading the Bible. The summaries may be useful, but they ain't the inspired word of God. Additionally, learning the bible is not a game of he or she who takes in the most facts wins. It's about learning to love God and being transformed towards becoming more like him. That kind of change and growth takes reflection, prayerful engagement and sticking with the process over a long period of time. Just quickly absorbing summaries or snippets before moving on to the next thing won't get you there.

My challenge for you (and myself!) this week is to not fall into the trap of prioritising how quickly we can take in bulk biblical information, but to slowly, prayerfully engage with extended portions of the life changing word of God itself.

Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Resource roundup: Free audiobooks

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 02:57:00 +0000

If you want to read but struggle to find the time, audiobooks are a great option because you can "read" while commuting, exercising or doing chores. This month there is a few worthwhile looking free audiobooks out that would be a great way to get started. I'm unsure as to when the free offers for all of these expire so if you want them, get them as soon as possible.

	Title: Wrecked Author: Jeff Goins Offer expires: possibly within a week Source: noisetrade.com
	Title: More or Less Author: Jeff Shinabarger Offer expires: Unknown Source: noisetrade.com
	Title: The Explicit Gospel Author: Matt Chandler with Jared C. Wilson Offer expires: 30 June 2013 Source: christianaudio.com
	Title: The Awakening of Hope Author: Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove Offer expires: June 30 Source: gobible.com
	Title: The Myth of the Garage Author: Chip and Dan Heath Offer expires: Unknown Source: heathbrothers.com
	Title: Through Painted Deserts Author: Donald Miller Offer expires: Unknown Source: noisetrade.com

Christianity is often hard (and that's okay)

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:11:00 +0000

Driving round town this week I heard a short devotional segment on Christian radio. I don’t remember who the speaker was but their point was this: The fact that Christianity is often hard doesn’t mean it isn’t true or worth doing.

This is something I think it would do us well to remember often. We live in a society that strives for greater convenience, simple to use products and things that can be done in the least number of easy steps as possible. Easy has become a virtue and difficulty has become something to eliminate.

Christianity does not fit into this assumption. Certainly there are blessings, joys and pleasant times, but frankly it is often hard. Persecution happens. Faithful people get mentally or physically ill. Fighting the desire to sin can be challenging. God can be confusing. Applying Christian ethics can make some decisions and situations substantially more complicated than they otherwise would be. These are realities in a fallen world.

I think a lot of angst as Christians happens when we swallow cultural messages about ease and therefore assume if things are persistently hard that we are doing something wrong. People would generally not say it this bluntly, but I think that is what is often behind things like prosperity gospel and the all too common exhortations along the lines of “If you just pray/read your bible/repent/give/be content/submit more then __________ will work out.” Good things to do but by no means quick fixes to anything. We often don’t know what to do with people who just don’t find it easy.

If you are finding being a Christian hard, that doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything wrong with you or your faith or Christianity itself. You are probably quite in touch with reality. Despite all the cultural messages about the virtues of easiness, things worth doing in any area of life are often in reality hard. Hang in there and keep pushing on because Christianity is often hard but most definitely something worth doing.

Book reflections: Resurrection Year by Sheridan Voysey

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Tue, 28 May 2013 12:49:00 +0000

Normally it takes me quite a while to get through a book. I read reasonably fast but usually have a lot of books on the go that I’m dipping in and out of. Resurrection Year by Sheridan Voysey was different- although it is not a particularly short book, I finished it in an afternoon. Part of that was due to curiosity- I was a big fan of the radio show Sheridan used to host and had been rather sad when he left to move overseas so I was interested to know where life had taken him since. Part of why I finished it so quickly is that he writes so beautifully and compellingly. The pictures he paints of important moments in his journey are so very vivid.

But, more importantly, the book drew me in and kept me reading with its honesty and insightfulness about the realities of living as a Christian in a broken world where bad things happen and sometimes good things stay out of reach. Sheridan tells with unflinching honesty the story of he and his wife’s struggle with infertility and learning to rebuild their lives as it became increasingly clear that they would not be able to have a child. In the Christian subculture we tend to emphasise stories that follow the standard testimony formula of things were terrible, then God intervened dramatically and then we got what we needed/wanted and things were awesome. Sometimes things work out like that and we should be thankful, but what about when they don’t? It is so common for things to just not resolve for even the most faithful people. We don’t tend to talk about those stories because they aren’t easy to tell but they really need telling. My broken dreams and disappointments have been different but it was so helpful and comforting to hear their story.

Another important thing that drew me in as I read the book was the idea of deliberately seeking new starts in the wake of broken dreams. For Sheridan, that meant moving to Europe so his wife could pursue some of her dreams, even though that would have a negative career impact.. While the idea of doing something dramatic after hard experiences is not that uncommon, what makes Sheridan’s story one to learn from was that it wasn’t about self indulgence but a very deliberate effort to work through spiritual issues, to seek the good of his wife and to find meaningful new direction. Unfortunately for myself (and I’m guessing most people) an overseas move is not a viable way to seek healing and new starts, it has still given me a lot to think about.

Resurrection Year can’t have been an easy book for Sheridan to write but I’m glad he did. It is a beautiful, brave book that helped me and I think will help many others. I really encourage you to get it.

Guest posting at All Groan Up on having fun on a budget

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Fri, 24 May 2013 07:01:00 +0000

Today I'm excited to be guest posting at All Groan Up, a fantastic blog by Paul Angone on surviving your twenties (and the quarter life crisis that often goes with them). His blog makes me feel less crazy, or at least crazy in a less unusual way. If you are visiting from All Groan Up, thanks for visiting! Please do stick round and feel free to introduce yourself.

If you aren't in your twenties, don't zone out because over at All Groan Up I'm writing on something lots of people of all ages need to learn: how to have fun on a budget. Here's how it begins:

Being newly all groan up can do terrible things for your fun levels if you aren’t careful. No longer do you have access to all the cheap or free stuff happening on your college campus but quite likely your budget can’t yet accommodate $80 concert tickets. As depressing as these deprivations are, you don’t have to miss out on having fun as an almost/completely broke twenty-something.

Head over to read the rest at All Groan Up.

Mars, modernism and mission

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:47:00 +0000

I can say from experience that the job market is tough these days. But even after many frustrating experiences of over-competitive recruitment processes, one I saw lately still managed to astound me. The recruiters were looking for people willing to take on very long, unbreakable contracts to do dangerous work in very tight confines in a geographically isolated place. Sounds unappealing but 78,000 people and counting have applied. Maybe because the job in question is going to mars to do scientific research and start a human settlement which admittedly is cooler than the average job.

As a Sociology nerd, so many questions come to mind about an endeavor like this. Things like how you frame your nationality and ethnicity would change when living on another planet, how social hierarchies would develop in such an unusually intense environment, how art and creativity would develop on Mars with limited resources for such things and what raising emotionally well adjusted kids in a martian colony would take.

A few things questions about the theological and ministry implications of the movement to get people to Mars also struck me.

If you believe those who say that we moved past a modernist approach to the world and into a more postmodernist view a couple of decades ago, our culture is largely cynical of metanarratives (big over-arching stories that explain everything) and of the idea that humanity is advancing, becoming better and more refined. While I think postmodernism does put forward some ideas worth pondering Watching some of the application videos made me wonder whether we weren’t quite as postmodern as some think. I was struck by the emphasis some of them had on the possibility this mission held out for moving humanity forward and solving some of our problems by bringing us together. As technology continues to advance in impressive ways through efforts like this, the Christian community will need to be especially mindful about how such hopeful attitudes about the potential of human endeavour to solve problems shape how people view their need for the gospel (or perceived lack thereof) at an individual and societal level.

While it is entirely possible that this scheme to get to Mars won’t be successful, I think it is reasonable to assume that sometime in the next century or so, people will make it to Mars. When that happens, we’ll have lots of questions to work through to about applying theology and Christian tradition to the new environment of life on another planet. How would being one of a few or maybe the only Christian on your entire planet change how you went about practicing faith? How would a Christian ethic of caring for creation impact how you used and modified the previously untouched martian environment? How might the fact that God’s previous dealings with humanity had played out in another part of the solar system impact how you were inclined to think about them? These sound like somewhat absurd questions now, but it might not be that many decades until they are live issues.

What questions about society or faith does the Mars mission prompt for you?

Lessons on shame from Brene Brown

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:37:00 +0000

Today I wastched Brene Brown's recent TED talk on shame (a sequel to her previous hit talk on vulnerability.) Brene is always interesting to listen to/read, but listening to this talk made me ponder how some of her ideas can help us create more healthy Christian communities. I've posted some thoughts below the embedded video. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments if you watch the video or have read her book on the topic.

"Shame is a focus on self, guilt is a focus on behavior. Shame is "I am bad." Guilt is "I did something bad.""
We often seem to use the ideas of shame and guilt interchangeably. In the talk Brene points out that they are different- shame is about who we are at the core being bad and is related to all sorts of destructive patterns. Guilt on the other hand is about what we did being bad and can be a positive motivator for change. Given the importance of repentance and change towards right behaviour in Christian discipleship, I think this is a crucial point to keep in mind when we or others mess up. We don't want to fall into destructive shaming, but nether do we want to insulate people from guilt which is uncomfortable but often serves a productive purpose.
"Shame, for women, is this web of unobtainable, conflicting, competing expectations about who we're supposed to be. And it's a straight-jacket. For men, shame is not a bunch of competing, conflicting expectations. Shame is one, do not be perceived as what? Weak" I think there is a few things we can take away from it. One is that other people (especially of the opposite gender) may experience shame for different reasons than we do. Because of this, caring for them may be learning and being mindful about their triggers. I think the other take-away from this is to be careful that we aren't overloading people with cultural (rather than biblical) expectations of everything they should do and be as a Christian man or a Christian woman that drive them into destructive shame when the inevitable failure to live up to it happens.
If you put shame in a Petri dish, it needs three things to grow exponentially: secrecy, silence and judgement. If you put the same amount of shame in a Petri dish and douse it with empathy, it can't survive. The two most powerful words when we're in struggle: me too."
I've seen this be true so many times. Admitting your own struggles to some else who is or might be struggling sometimes doesn't seem very significant or much like a ministry, but it can make such a huge difference. Jon Acuff calls it "the gift of going second", meaning that when we take the hard step of being brave enough to share our shame and struggles first, we make it easier for those who go second. Imagine how much healthier our communities would be if people knew it was safe to bring their sins, shame and struggle out into the light to deal with and get help for because they were so used to seeing others do the same?

Interview: Matt Appling (Author of Life After Art)

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:37:00 +0000

One of my favourite Christian bloggers is Matt Appling (from The Church of No People). His writing is the right kind of provocative- he says the things that need to be said about Christian culture and life in general in a way that gets you thinking. Matt has recently put his talents to good use writing his new book Life After Art. He was kind enough to answer a few questions for us.

For readers who don’t know about you, what’s a few interesting things about yourself?

Well, I'm an art teacher with a seminary degree, a pastor who supports himself in the classroom. I'm an art teacher, pastor and writer, and my wife and I live with our two dogs in Kansas City. If you don't know where that it is, we're right in the middle. Every weatherman in America stands right in front of Kansas City as they gesture around on the map.

How would you sum up Life After Art in a sentence or two?

Life After Art is a journey, not toward becoming an "artist" per se, but more human. These are all of the spiritual truths that I discovered were waiting for me to relearn when I stepped into the art classroom as a teacher. How has art changed you the most? Art has always been a love of mine. I was always a child artist, and there's some little anecdotes in the book about how art has intersected with my life. I think with writing the book, I've realized just what a metaphor art and creativity is for the rest of our lives. I don't want to give too much away, but to me, "creativity" is much more than just making pretty pictures.

What do you think the most common misconceptions about art and creativity in the church are?

For some reason, a whole lot of the church is removed from art, and vice verse. Maybe it's because art isn't always need and concrete, with definite boundaries and lessons. But I think the wedge has been driven deeper by a belief that art is not for everyone. We put it in the hands of a few elite people while the rest of us sit back. We do the same with our spirituality as a whole. A few are qualified to preach and pray and serve while the majority sit silently, feeling that they cannot do the same.

What would you say to people who don’t think they are artistic or creative types?

You are in the majority. When I talk to people who aren't happy with their jobs or some part of their lives, I ask what kinds of creative pursuits do they engage in, and the answer is almost always that they aren't "creative." Creating isn't something that just a few of us get to do. It's what we were made to do! It's something you deserve to do. It's not a contest. You don't have to turn whatever you do into a business. Just do something!

What creative mediums do you most enjoy working with?

When I was in high school, I did a lot of painting. In college, I fell in love with graphic design. And in my later 20s, writing became my creative outlet. I've probably poured 450,000 words into my blog over four years!

You can get Life After Art at Amazon, Book Depository or other stores with good taste in books. You can read more from Matt at his blog The Church of No People..

Some thoughts on Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:39:00 +0000

Last week I shared some thoughts about what I’m learning through Shauna Niequist’s new book Bread & Wine and some of my own journey in learning about hospitality and cooking. Today I want to share another bit of the book that has been challenging me.

“I tend to think that when everything is going well I have the margin to do hard things, to make good choices- to read instead of watch TV, to eat well instead of eat poorly to engage in deep conversation instead of chatter about other people. It’s the making of those harder, better choices right while everything’s a mess that makes the mess a little more manageable. I wanted nachos upon nachos last night, like a wheelbarrow full. But this morning I would have had to add a sense of failure to my already bruised spirits. I’m not saying I woke up feeling all better. But I do know I could have made it so much worse, that I could have added self-loathing to my tiredness, and that wouldn’t have made it easier to bear. I’m realising this after what seems like a lifetime of saying to myself, “Well, you can’t be expected to do something hard on a day like this, can you?” I did expect more from myself, and I did do something hard, and I’m thankful.”

I’ve kept thinking this passage over since I first read the book a week or two ago. It is the kind of idea which in some ways I wish I could find a reason to disagree with because that would be easier. But I think she is indeed onto something that while hard, is true and helpful. I often try to convince myself that after making it through a hard situation/day/week that I deserve to be and do less than I would in my better moments. It seems to be a common problem.

Lots of writers and speakers say that often when they decide to write or speak about a topic that they will inevitably get opportunities to learn about it first hand. That has held true when working on a post about this idea. I need to exercise more so recently started getting up early to exercise. The week I started ended up being a hard, disappointing week in other areas of life. Staying in bed (or going back) to hide from the world was a very tempting proposition, but when I did it I felt guilty and lazy. But instead, most days I thought about Shauna’s advice and got on with it. The days I got up and exercised didn’t feel great. I started to wonder if what I’ve been told about exercise giving you endorphins which make you happy was true. But knowing that I’d successfully done something hard already made the rest of the day a bit easier to bear. It made it a bit easier to exercise ordinary courage in other ways. It made me feel like I was making progress on something, even as other things felt like they were slipping backwards. I’m glad I did the hard thing.

Some thoughts on Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:38:00 +0000

I used to be one of those people who did not cook. In my defense, I was a student living on campus who had to put up with sharing a kitchen with 15-20 people, only being able to buy what I could carry home on the bus and only having a very very tiny freezer compartment. As a result, I ate lots of diet microwave meals and canned soup. It was close enough to nutritionally sound but not very inspiring. Extra issues like campus parking permits and not knowing what state the shared kitchens would be in made showing hospitality difficult.

When I graduated that all had to change because I moved into a house with four other young adults where it was expected that we would all take turns with the cooking and where showing hospitality to the many visiting friends of various members of the household was a regular occurrence. And so I had to learn to cook and bake. It happened slowly, with a great deal of mess, quite a few under or overcooked dishes, some questionable ingredient choices and occasional use of more food dye than is likely healthy.

I would probably read almost anything by Shauna Niequist. She is the kind of author I quote in wedding cards and babble about when asked in job interviews about books that have had an impact on me. The coming together of my long standing love of Shauna’s writing and my newer interest in cooking and hospitality in her new book Bread and Wine had me very excited to get my hands on the book. Instead of posting a more traditional review, I thought it would be fitting to post some reflections over the course of several posts on some ideas in the book that have resonated with me.

“One friend promises she’ll start having people over when they finally have the money to remodel. Another says she’d be too nervous that people wouldn’t eat the food she made, so she never makes the invitation. But it isn’t about perfection, and it isn’t about performance. You’ll miss the richest moments in life -- the sacred moments when we feel God’s grace and presence through the actual faces and hands of the people we love-- if you’re too scared or too ashamed to open the door. I know it’s scary, but throw open the door anyway.”

“But entertaining isn’t a sport or competition. It’s an act of love if you let it be that. You can twist it and turn it into anything you want- a way to show off your house, a way to compete with your friends, a way to earn love and approval. Or you can decide that every time you open your door, it’s an act of love, not performance or competition or striving. You can decide that every time people gather around your table, your goal is nourishment, not neurotic proving. You can decide.”

One of the ideas running through the book is that cooking and hospitality at their most meaningful are not a performance but an unpretentious way to love other people amidst our imperfect homes and imperfect lives. This is so important but something we forget so often. Our culture is overloaded with glossy food and home magazines and here in Australia at least, cooking reality TV shows with their impossibly complicated recipes and astoundingly talented chiefs rule the airwaves. Personally I have to fight the tendency to compare my still developing cooking skills to those of friends who cook well and to banish memories of stressed tidy ups that somewhat dampened the joy of having people visit our house growing up.

Certainly there are times where it is great to show your love for someone by making the effort to cook something special, but I’m learning is that as much as possible it is better to put my heart and soul into engaging with the people I’m spending time with, not into trying to make sense of complicated recipes full of ingredients I hadn’t heard of until my treasure hunt like quest through the grocery story to find them. People don’t usually notice or care if the meal is made from a simple combination of ingredients or if there is two week old newspapers on the coffee table. Although many of my friends are good cooks, I mostly only have vague recollections of what was served at meals at their houses over the years and I have no recollection of how tidy their houses were. What I do remember is meaningful conversation and feeling like I belonged. In the end, that is what matters.

Part 2 coming soon.....

Featured music: Page CXVI- Re-Hymns

noreply@blogger.com (Joanna) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:58:00 +0000

Yes, more hymns as my featured music pick! If you like what you hear in the widget below, you can download every album Page CXVI has ever released for free this month at noisetrade